The positive reception to Squid Game has been staggering, with the brutal South Korean drama recently confirmed as Netflix’s most popular series of all time. When a one-off production has this sort of success, it is usually destined to become a franchise, with a second series of the show seeming almost inevitable. Other spin-offs and adaptations could include a Squid Game video game.
While licensed TV show cash-ins are not renowned for their quality, a Squid Game video game adaptation could buck this trend. The series’ storyline about a violent game show would lend itself very well to an online multiplayer knockout tournament structure, and could build upon the success of the current battle royale gaming craze popularized by the likes of Fortnite. There would be some irony in this, as the ‘battle royale’ genre label is in fact a reference to the Japanese cult classic movie Battle Royale, a film that Squid Game’s script was heavily influenced by.
The Origins of Battle Royale Video Games
Based on a 1999 novel of the same name, Battle Royale is a Japanese action-thriller movie released in the year 2000, directed by Kinji Fukasaku, and featuring the talents of legendary actor Takeshi Kitano. It depicts a class of schoolchildren forced to fight to the death on a remote island, each starting with a randomized weapon but able to upgrade their arsenal by stealing from their deceased rivals. To ensure reluctant competitors cannot simply try to ‘wait out’ the game in hiding, the hapless participants are fitted with explosive collars which will detonate if they linger in any of the island’s constantly shifting danger zones.
The film’s influence on modern popular culture cannot be overstated, with Battle Royale’s DNA found in everything from horror movies like The Purge to global blockbusters like The Hunger Games. It is therefore a surprise that the central premise of a deadly knockout tournament was not widely adopted in video games until the late 2010s, when titles like Fortnite and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds struck gold with the battle royale formula.
A key factor was of course the availability of hardware powerful enough to enable 100 online players to battle it out simultaneously, but now that this technical hurdle has been overcome, fans of the genre have seen a slew of battle royale games released in recent years. Battle royale modes and mechanics have also been introduced to many existing franchises, including the ‘Blackout’ mode in Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4. The fact that powerhouses like Call Of Duty are getting in on the action is testament to just how ubiquitous battle royale mechanics have become.
The genre’s popularity shows no sign of diminishing in the near future. Battle royale games continue to be developed and released, and genre frontrunner Fortnite has become a cultural phenomenon in its own right, generating billions of dollars in revenue for Epic Games. However, with players always eager for new and innovative experiences, the rumored Squid Game video game has a golden opportunity to pioneer the next gaming craze.
Squid Game’s Format is Perfect for a Video Game Adaptation
Like Battle Royale, Squid Game pits a cast of desperate characters against each other in a deadly tournament. However, the series also borrows from popular Japanese game show Takeshi’s Castle (a production that coincidentally also features Takeshi Kitano, this time as its main host) by increasing the number of participants, and by replacing a single battle to the death with a series of different contests that gradually thin the field. 456 players initially compete in Squid Game, but only one is ultimately declared the winner after surviving a succession of sadistic reworkings of children’s playground games.
If modern servers can handle this many concurrent players, there is no reason these experiences couldn’t be recreated in a video gaming space. The allure of outlasting this many opponents would certainly appeal to the most competitive online gamers, and being declared the winner of a Squid Game tournament would feel like a major achievement.
However, a faithful adaptation would not only need to mirror the sheer numbers involved in Squid Game, but would also need to recapture the variety and unpredictability of its fiendish rounds. If enough different games were available, then waiting in the lobby for a contest to start would cease to be a boring delay, instead generating a feeling of adrenaline-fueled excitement and dread as players contemplate what challenge they are about to face. This approach would recreate the feeling of the best roguelike titles, where experienced players become familiar with the different stages or components of the game but not the order in which they will appear.
A developer could even choose to constantly update the game with new rounds to ensure that even veteran players are never comfortable. Limited-time events like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s ‘Sephiroth Challenge’ would be perfectly suited to this, perhaps incorporating themed stages such as the always-popular Halloween special. However, it would be important to ensure that each game was sufficiently entertaining, well-balanced, and complex. A series of overly simple mini games would result in an experience more akin to a Wii Sports release, which would be unlikely to lure hardened battle royale veterans away from their favorite titles.
There are, of course, many ways a developer could choose to tackle a Squid Game video game. The dramatic storyline of the TV show could lend itself well to a linear single player adaptation, with the player experiencing not just the knockout tournament itself but all of the cutthroat backstage machinations that helped to make the series so compelling. But if a multiplayer approach is preferred, and the horror and surprise of the show’s brutal competitions are successfully evoked, then the overwhelming popularity of Squid Game could propel its video game adaptation into the stratosphere. In the coming years, Squid Game’s tournament structure may replace battle royale mechanics as gaming’s next big thing.